In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Gotham City Sirens, The Batman, Justice League, Aquaman, Suicide Squad, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The LEGO Batman Movie, Justice League Dark, Justice League Action, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Slingshot, Legion, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Deadpool, Green Lantern, Wolverine, The Incredibles 2 and more…
It’s been a pretty exciting week for fans of the DC Extended Universe, with Warner Bros. dropping official news on several upcoming DC Films projects. First up was the official announcement that Margot Robbie will indeed be reprising the role of Harley Quinn for the studio’s female-led Suicide Squad spinoff, which is titled Gotham City Sirens, and will reteam Robbie with director David Ayer. Will Smith wasted little time in expressing his interest in joining the reunion for a return as Deadshot (a character who also reportedly has a solo movie under consideration), while the rumour mill wasted also little time in capitalising on the news, with a report linking Megan Fox to the role of Poison Ivy…
…Outgoing Warner Bros. executive Greg Silverman dropped confirmation that the studio is eyeing a 2018 release date for The Batman (which will presumably take the open slot of July 27th 2018 formerly occupied by Aquaman), while co-writer, director and star Ben Affleck offered up some mixed messages, firstly stating that he’s still yet to complete the script and is in no rush to churn out something sub-par, before confirming that the plan is to begin production in the Spring…
…Affleck also discussed his initial casting as The Dark Knight in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, revealing that he took on the role in order to banish the ghost of Daredevil: “That’s the movie I want to do,” said Affleck, referring to this year’s DC ensemble. “I want to be a part of that. Part of it was I wanted for once to get one of these movies and do it right – to do a good version. I hate Daredevil so much. It frustrated me. The Netflix show does really cool stuff. I feel like that was there for us to do with that character, and we never kind of got it right. I wanted to do one of those movies and sort of get it right…”
…Jeremy Irons will be reprising the role of Alfred Pennyworth for The Batman, but before then we’ll also see him in Justice League, and he’s been chatting about his “hands on” role in the superhero team-up, which will see him operating as a tail gunner on the Justice League’s Flying Fox; you can read his comments about his role and his inspiration for his take on Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler and father figure here…
…This week also brought us a few behind-the-scenes images of Jason Momoa shooting a Davidoff Cool Water commercial scenes as Aquaman in Justice League [see here], while it was announced that Watchmen star Patrick Wilson will be returning to the DC universe in the King of Atlantis’ 2018 solo movie, having been cast as Aquaman’s half-brother Orm, a.k.a. the supervillain Ocean Master. “I’m completely biased with James Wan, who I’ve done four films with – knowing that he’s at the helm and knowing what he… can do and what he will do, I’ll do anything with him,” said Wilson on his casting. “What’s gonna be interesting is there hasn’t been the technology to back up the storytelling, I guess, for Aquaman until now. I think the lure of Aquaman [is] because he hasn’t been overexposed on screen. And I don’t know Jason – I can’t wait to meet him. I was a huge fan of his from the first episode of Game of Thrones so I’m in – I’m in with him, and he’s gonna be fantastic…”
…Suicide Squad’s extended cut his Blu-ray in the States this past weekend, and you can read our review here, while Will Smith also spoke about his reasons for choosing the movie ahead of Independence Day: Resurgence: “I had the two screenplays in front of me for the Independence Day 2 and for Suicide Squad. I had to choose between the two of those. Even the choice of going to Suicide Squad — nothing about the qualities of the movie — but the choice of trying to go forward versus clinging and clawing backwards. I do want to aggressively go forward and do new things and create and hopefully be able to stumble upon a new heyday.” Next up for Will Smith is Bad Boys 3. And Bad Boys 4…
…In a couple of bits of Arrowverse news, it’s been announced this week that Jessica Camacho (Sleepy Hollow) signed on to play the character of Cynthia Reynolds, a.k.a. Gypsy, in The Flash, while The CW has also released a promo for the second half of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season two, which reveals that the show is moving to Tuesday nights from its midseason premiere in January…
…Warner Bros. will kick off the 2017 superhero season in February with the animated comedy The LEGO Batman Movie, and this week has seen the release of an extended TV spot [watch it here], along with a festive promo which sees the Caped Crusader, Robin and Alfred wishing fans a Happy Holidays [watch it here]. Meanwhile, minifigure collectors may also want to check out this image of a special polybag rumoured to be given out in theaters, which includes two new quirky costumes for the Dark Knight in Disco Batman and Tears of Batman…
…Batman is also set to feature in Warner Bros.’ next DC Universe Animated Original Movies release Justice League Dark this January, and this week brought us a clip from the feature, along with a video interview featuring Matt Ryan (Constantine) and Jason O’Mara (Batman); watch them here…
…The new animated series Justice League Action got underway on Cartoon Network in the States yesterday, and five clips from the show have arrived online, giving us a peek at some of the upcoming episodes from the first season. Check them out here…
…Click below to continue on for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Slingshot, Legion, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Deadpool, Green Lantern, Wolverine, The Incredibles 2 and more…
